Special Message

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

In my annual message in discussing the tariff act of August 5, 1909, I referred to the maximum and minimum clause and discussed the power reposed in the President in that clause, and expressed the opinion that it would enable the President and the State Department, through friendly negotiations, to secure the elimination from the laws and the practice under them in any foreign country of that which is unduly discriminatory against the United States. I am glad to say that negotiations under that clause are now substantially completed with all the nations of the world with results that are satisfactory; and I come now to the further functions of the Tariff Board appointed by virtue of the power given the President in the maximum and minimum clause. Upon the subject of this Tariff Board I used the following language:

The new tariff law enables me to appoint a tariff board to assist me in connection with the Department of State in the administration of the minimum and maximum clause of the act and also to assist officers of the Government in the administration of the entire law. An examination of the law and an understanding of the nature of the facts which should be considered in discharging the functions imposed upon the Executive show that I have the power to direct the Tariff Board to make a comprehensive glossary and encyclopedia of the terms used and articles embraced in the tariff law, and to secure information as to the cost of production of such goods in this country and the cost of their production in foreign countries. I have therefore appointed a Tariff Board consisting of three members and have directed them to perform all the duties above described. This work will perhaps take two or three years, and I ask from Congress a continuing annual appropriation equal to that already made for its prosecution. I believe that the work of this board will be of prime utility and importance whenever Congress shall deem it wise again to readjust the customs duties. If the facts secured by the Tariff Board are of such a character as to show generally that the rates of duties imposed by the present tariff law are excessive under the principles of protection as described in the platform of the successful party at the late election, I shall not hesitate to invite the attention of Congress to this fact and to the necessity for action predicated thereon. Nothing, however, halts business and interferes with the course of prosperity so much as the threatened revision of the tariff, and until the facts are at hand, after careful and deliberate investigation, upon which such revision can properly be undertaken, it seems to me unwise to attempt it. The amount of misinformation that creeps into arguments pro and con in respect to tariff rates is such as to require the kind of investigation that I have directed the Tariff Board to make, an investigation undertaken by it wholly without respect to the effect which the facts may have in calling for a readjustment of the rates of duty.

Upon consulting the members of the Tariff Board I find that to carry out the purpose announced in my annual message it will be necessary to have an appropriation by the Congress, immediately available, for the current and the next fiscal year, of $250,000, and I respectfully urge upon Congress this appropriation. I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury to submit an estimate of the same in the statutory method. The statement of the chairman of the Tariff Board, showing the necessity for the amount asked, is herewith submitted.

WILLIAM H. TAFT